Imaginality
by JayBirdSoaring95
Summary: We all daydream. That place between waking and sleeping. Its just your subconsciousness bringing your dreams and days to the forefront of your mind. Right? What if, just maybe, when we saw our daydreams, our daydreams saw us too? (A/U My OC is the Main character.)
1. Chapter 1

As Yet Untitled Story.

Prologue.

Family.

That's all her life was to her. The only true meaning of life. She couldn't speak for others of course, but, in her heart, she knew. Without family, life simply was not, worth, living.

not to mention, it was all she had.

Chapter 1.

Trains. Endless in their monotony, complex, yet simple to master.

It felt like her life, no, her very existence, revolved around them.

"It's not for long" she reminded herself. If everything went according to plan, she would be among the greatest artists out there.

One step closer to the Golden Circle, but more importantly, one step closer to him. The Highest of them all. Even in her mind, the barely whispered name contained reverence and awe.

"Bailey".

Mili's musings were interrupted by a rumble, starting from deep beneath the platform. It reminded her of a dragon, waking from its slumber, slowly unfurling its wings, waiting for the moment to release its great and mighty roar, filling the tunnel with ear splitting noise.

People stood around her, filling the tiny concrete tube. All going about their daily, mundane lives, oblivious to the magic, hidden, just below their feet. If they knew the truth they would run screaming, never to return. She smiled. If Mili hadn't been a photographer, she would have been a writer. The dragon was quite a frequent visitor to her consciousness, popping up whenever her mind wandered.

The daydream lasted only a few seconds, for here was the train, patiently waiting for her to board, like her own metal steed. Well, if you forgot about the 40 or so other people simultaneously embarking also.

Once seated, Mili allowed her mind to wander again, safe in the knowledge that she would snap back to reality at precisely the right moment needed to leave the steed. train! train. "must watch that", she muttered to herself. For her daydreams were acceptable, as long as they stayed just that. dreams. However, recently they had begun to leak into her life, her words. It was worrying, and, if she was brutally honest, scary.

Soon, her worries were pushed to the back of her mind, as she slowly relaxed into the seat, the familiarity and regularity of the journey lulling her.

it was half an hour into the journey when another whimsical character decided to appear. Primrose. With her canary yellow hair, lapis eyes and blue, blue skin. She could see her now, sitting among the passengers. She would smile at the children, as their frazzled mother tiredly looked on. The children would return the look, perhaps accepting a flower or two, plucked from Prim's hair. The mother would smile at her children, simply putting their odd interactions with what she saw only as thin air, down to imaginary friends. Well. She wasn't wrong.

Little did Mili know.

Mili blinked away the particularly vivid vision, crashing back down to earth with a hard bump.

"Ouch" she whispered, however not quietly enough as it earned her a 'look' from man seated beside her. The pain and following distraction had caused Prim to disappear, back to the depths of Mili's imagination. It really was a vast place.

Just when Mili was about to disembark and begin the long, arduous trek home, she glimpsed Prim again, slowly waving farewell, still seated on the train. This was nothing new to her, however, there was one disconcerting change. Instead of her usual calm, happy demeanour, Primrose seemed sad, her eyes reflecting pain, shadows, but most shockingly, secrets. Their eyes connected, the thread of contact remaining until the train had disappeared back to its dark lair. She shivered. It's just tiredness. Exhaustion. Nothing to worry about. "I'm Normal. Not Crazy. Normal. Not. Crazy. No". She continued to mutter this mantra to herself the rest of the long walk home. As soon as she had broken eye contact with Prim, all her aches and pains had reappeared, the exhaustion from her seemingly eternal day rearing it's ugly head with a vengeance.

Finally. Home. Mili sunk down, slowly, the door at her back, The outside world shut away where it belonged. her haven engulfed her, familiar sounds, smells, sights, wrapping themselves around her like a beautifully soothing blanket. It was times like these, when Mili realised just how completely and utterly exhausting it was to navigate the world. Talking, interacting, starting, stopping, saying yes saying no saying so many words her jaw ached as well as her mind. Without fail, every night, she would shut that door, sink to the floor, (or sofa if she had some thread of energy left), and slowly breathe in the air around her, relaxing inch by inch, until her mind quieted. Which it only did when she was home or with her family.

Once her mind was silent, her body soon followed suit. She had spent an inordinate amount of money on this sofa, (her sister had never let her forget it) but she knew she would need its properties, including being almost as large and comfortable as her bed. She even kept a duvet on the back of it. pulling it over her, she snuggled further into the mountain of cushions, quickly falling into sleep. Dreamland, on this rare occasion, stayed away.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2.**

Have you ever had one of _those_ days?

you know the ones i mean. First, the morning. Everything seems fine. Maybe the sun is shining, birds are singing, maybe your first job of the day goes really well, so you get 3 or so more done than you thought would be accomplishable. 12 pm hits?

Explosion.

And no matter how good a mood you were in before, nothing can pierce that veil of red, thick, gasoline - fuelled anger.

yeah. It hit the fan alright.

know what I mean?

This was what Mili's day became. Or rather, mutated into. Like one of those grotesque, multi-tentacled beasts Shadow fought.

But first, the good.

She was dreaming. Of this Mili was 98.56 percent sure. First, there was absolutely no way 5 legged multi-lingual siberian tigers existed in reality. Even that was stretching it. Second, she was standing ankle deep in snow on the edge of a ravine, the toes of her boots brushing the sharp edge. The wind was howling, yet it didn't hurt her ears. No, it wasn't blinding her, hurting her, biting at her with its freezing needle-like talons, whispering her name, urging her to jump, searching for her weakness. No. Instead, (and this was what confirmed her theory on the dream state), she was comfortable in this terrain, even…..happy, because once she let go of her fear, of her grip on reality, the thread snapped. She surrendered. She was happy. Once she let go, she noticed the beauty of the place, how each snowflake was individual, with seemingly endless patterns swirling past her nose. Mili felt she could jump, but not to her death, nor, even, to oblivion, or freezing water below. No. She could jump to soar, to join the eagles she knew were just out of her reach, that if she reached out her hand, she could brush the silken, golden feathers with her fingertips. They would understand what she wanted. While all this was swirling, undulating, swiftly arriving then just as quickly disappearing from her mind, Mili was quietly, calmly watched by the Siberian. Seated in the snow, her body finding the natural dip molded from many seatings here. The Siberian had watched this Child many a time, Never growing impatient. Unlike her compatriots, she understood her role in this, she thought for a moment, searching for a word the girl may use, for her language was entirely different. World, plan? plot? none quite suited, but, she supposed, in the grand scheme of time and things to be done, it was not important. No, alas, this moment was what she had been waiting for. It was time for them to leave the shadows. The siberian twitched her tail, the only sign she was not indeed a statue with piercing amber eyes. She had been, alive, no, complete, for many, many eons and would be for many more. She had seen kingdoms rise, fall, weather change, the world turned into the human's idea of hell, then just as quickly frozen. The Siberian thought, and what she thought was curious. No moment in time, no matter how superior it may have seemed to this one, had ever caused her to feel…..excited? impatient?

The siberian concluded, this was the most important moment of all.

Mili was enchanted. However, she felt a pull towards the tiger with five feet. A niggling in her mind, as if she could almost communicate with the Amber eyed oddity, but not through her words. It was a thoroughly odd sensation. As she turned to watch Amber, (she felt 5 legs would be very rude), Amber turned her eyes on Mili's also.

(Remember I said explosion?)

Mili's mind changed. It became a battleground. Her sanity the losing side, retreating with it's last remnants of strength, trying to hold on to the ledge. She could feel herself slipping, everything tilting on its axis. The pain was in her mind, then her body, then it became her. Her thoughts scattered, became one with her emotions, her emotions turning inside out, memories flashing, twisting, turning, her spirit like a tornado black with stormclouds. She was no longer Mili - Possibly crazy girl, just trying to get ahead in a cutthroat photo crazy world. No. She was ethereal, no longer just one being, 3, no, 4, no she couldn't count the selves she was. Through this, one singular form remained. Amber. Throughout all this craziness, Amber was there, helping her, guiding her, her feelings, thoughts, mind whispering, intertwining with Mili's until she could no longer feel the seam between their two minds. no. They were one.

The words she whispered. Oh, the words. Beautiful painful madness.

They told of a world, a little outside of the one she used to call home. A world where the friends she believed were in her mind, whom she watched from afar, always believing them to be imaginary, were not. Amber filled her mind with one idea, and one only. It shined through, brighter than any light she had ever seen. It broke through the all encompassing pain that was blinding her, shattering her last threads of hope. They were not her imagination.

They were real.

And they were dying.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3.**

Quiet.

So quiet.

The swirling mass of smoky cloud, no longer a hurricane, drifted lazily around her mind. twisting, twirling, curling in on itself then disappearing into the deeper, darker recesses of her , achingly so, the cloud dissipated, leaving quiet peace in its tumultuous wake. Mili lay still, unwilling to move even a centimetre, lest she burst the bubble around herself.  
Eventually, sounds began to filter through, the chatter of people talking as they went about their lives, birds' melodious calls, the world awakening once again, oblivious to the change wrought upon one seemingly ordinary girl.

Turning her head, mili saw her phone had fallen to the floor over the course of the night. Picking it up, she tried to focus on the screen, her eyes taking a little longer to adjust. Seeing the time, she blew out a breath in relief. It was only 6:30, she wasn't due to start her schedule until 10:00. Mili collapsed back against the cushions, exhaustion weighing her down like a heavy blanket. Trying to go back to sleep was pointless she reasoned, as no doubt amber would be waiting for her as soon as her eyes closed. Mili was not afraid to admit that the prospect of seeing the big cat beauty scared her witless, after everything she had learned. "Can't I go back?" she asked the air, but it was not so easy. Apparently time travel was not included in her list of newly discovered talents. With a heartfelt sigh, Mili heaved her body upright, groaning as she did so.  
The sun danced over her skin, collecting with the dancing dust motes, painting her in golden streaks and darker dusty shadows. Once again, mili longed for her camera, but she knew this was one image she could not take herself, for it needed someone else to capture it. Shaking her head, mili eased herself into a standing position, stretching out her muscles, stiff from the long night on the sofa. she stretched her arms above her head, interlinking her hands to steady herself. standing on her tiptoes, trying to awaken each part of her body, though rather reluctantly. It was at this precise moment that a thought popped into her still peaceful mind.

"what on earth do I do now"?

she wondered aloud. Does she go about her day as if a bomb had not exploded in her consciousness? ignore the revelations that still flitted about in her brain? or does she stay on the sofa, unmoving, attempting to come to terms with her altered reality?

But….was it truly changed? did it actually happen? because at this rate, she reasoned, if she really was the sole occupant of this earth capable of saving a world she had only learned about a few waking minutes ago, shouldn't one of her daydreams have made an appearance by now? given her instructions? or at the very least made her feel slightly less like she was going insane?

It was making her brain hurt.

standing still, mili slowed her breathing, making sure she made as little sound as possible, and decided to wait for 10 seconds to see if anyone, or anything, turned up. If not, she would go about her day as if it had all been a crazy brutal colourful dream. If, though, someone did show, she would accept her fate. no matter the consequences.

1\. she looked around.

2\. all was quiet, not even a peep from the world outside

3\. was the world holding its breath with her?

4\. she jumped at a sound, though quickly realised it was just the milkman.

5\. halfway there. breathe mili! she chastised herself.

6\. no good if I pass out.

7\. maybe if i close my eyes ?

8\. nope,

9\. nothing,

10\. phew! done.

Mili was reluctant to open her eyes, as she imagined a being standing in front of her, with its bottomless eyes, and pale, pale skin, worry etched across its features, lines and scars marring its beautiful face, from years of stress and war. "Not. real. not. real. just me here" Mili repeated this to herself for another 5 seconds, before stealing all her courage and slowly, inch by inch, unscrewing one eye, gently, gently, opening it to the world in front of her.

Nothing.

Nothing had changed in the last 15 seconds.

Mili gasped, unaware until now quite how long she had been holding her breath for. It was then that she felt disappointment seep into her, she could deny her feelings all she liked, but she knew that deep down inside, a small part of her had been hoping it was real. That she truly was the saviour of a world beyond her own. well, almost saviour. Mili shook her head, chastised her imagination severely, and went about her morning, resolutely pushing any thoughts of tigers, blue skinned pixies and beautifully pale shadow people to the back of her mind, where they belonged.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4.**

3 days.

That's how long Mili had been in bed.

Though, it was not out of sheer laziness that she had let it go on so long, no, she simply could not comprehend what she now knew.

Groaning, She attempted to push the traitorous thoughts from her mind, continuing what had now become a daily ritual. Curling her body into a ball, as tightly as she could without hurting, she whispered the mantra into the stale air surrounding her, choking her. Still, she refused to leave her refuge. It was the lifeboat in the choppy sea of chaos that had become her life.

"I Have Wings. Use Them"

"I Have Armour. Wear It".

"I am Chaos, and I Do Not Fear".

Her breathing had begun to falter before she had spoken, the thoughts and memories blinding her as if she was still on that cliff edge, surrounded by snowflakes being whipped into a frenzy by the ruthless wind, seeming not to care if she fell to her death.

Now, it came easily to her, as if she had not been struggling for any semblance of air only seconds ago.

One thing had changed however. One thought had pierced the thick veil of denial and hatred. She couldn't hide anymore. If anything, it was a miracle her sister hadn't broken the door down to demand Answers. If not, Then the Siberian would definitely be second in line.

You see, She'd actually believed it was all a dream. Yeah, Right. That was until the Siberian had stalked into her kitchen. Followed by Prim.

And if that wasn't enough, she met the most infuriating halfwit jerkface on both planes.


End file.
